Bodies of 3 people kidnapped in Assam found

Guwahati: The bodies of three people kidnapped by suspected NDFB (Songbijit) militants were recovered from the Beki River in Assam’s Baksa district.

“We have recovered three more bodies this morning from Beki river. We do not know the type of injuries these bodies have. The details will be known after the investigation,” Baksa Deputy Commissioner Vinod Seshan said.

With this, the bodies of all the four people kidnapped on Saturday, including two teenage boys, have been found.

The first one, bearing a cut on the head, was recovered on Saturday evening from the river in Barpeta district.

The bodies recovered on Sunday were identified to be those of Ataur Rahman, 27, Rubul Ameen, 45, and Saddam Ali, 13, while the body of Bakar Ali, 13, was found on Saturday.

Family members and villagers in Barpeta district, from where the four hailed, have refused to conduct the last rites demanding that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visit the area to address their grievances.

Meanwhile, police fired in the air to disperse a mob protesting against the kidnappings ignoring the curfew in the Anand Bazar area, Seshan said, adding no one was injured.

“Police had to use force as the people violated the curfew and refused to leave the place,” he added. An indefinite curfew was imposed in Salbari sub-division and Anand Bazar in Baksa on Saturday morning following the kidnapping that took place of Friday night by suspected NDFB (S) militants. Police and CRPF jawans were deployed to maintain peace in the district. The army has been called in and kept on stand by.

On Friday, seven people, reportedly lemon traders, went to Labdanguri market in Baksa district from adjacent Barpeta district, but the four victims did not return.

The state government on Saturday evening replaced the Baksa Superintendent of Police Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant and appointed 10th Assam Police Battalion commandant Mojibur Rahman in his place.

In May, 50 people were killed in Baksa and Kokrajhar in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts by suspected Bodoland Peoples Front-supported militants. NIA and the state government are separately probing the incidents.